Sera's POV
"Just Sera."
The words hang in the air between us like poison.
General Kade Nightborne stares at me with those silver-gray eyes that see too much. His soldiers fill the healing house behind him, blocking every exit. Tommy whimpers somewhere behind me. Old Martha hasn't moved.
And I'm standing here dripping with bloody water, caught in the worst lie of my life.
"Just Sera," Kade repeats slowly. His voice is quiet, but somehow that makes it more terrifying. "No family name. No history. Just appeared in the Dust Quarter one day like magic."
My mouth goes dry. He's done his research. He knows things he shouldn't know.
"I'm nobody important," I whisper. It's the truth and a lie at the same time.
"Nobody important," he says. "Yet you're the best healer in this quarter. You save lives other healers give up on. You have education that takes years to learn. You speak like someone who was taught properly, even when you try to hide it."
My heart slams against my ribs. I forgot to stutter. I forgot to sound uneducated. I was too scared to remember my own disguise.
Stupid. So stupid.
Kade takes another step closer. Now he's so close I have to tilt my head back to look at him. He's studying my face like I'm a puzzle he needs to solve.
"And your eyes," he says softly. "Even under all that dirt, they're unusual. What color are they really?"
Violet. Royal violet. The color that marks Ashcroft blood.
If he sees them clearly, I'm dead.
"Brown," I lie. "Just plain brown."
"Look at me."
"I am looking at you."
"No. You're squinting. You've been squinting since I walked in. Look at me properly."
It's an order. Generals give orders and people obey. But if I open my eyes fully, if I let him see the violet that marks me as my father's daughter...
"I have trouble with bright light," I say quickly. "It hurts my eyes. The healers think it's a sickness from—"
"Stop." His hand moves so fast I don't see it coming. His fingers catch my chin, tilting my face toward the light from the window. "Stop lying to me."
The touch burns. His hand is rough with calluses from holding swords. His grip is firm but not painful. And the way he's looking at me makes my stomach flip in a way that has nothing to do with fear.
No. I can't think like that. He's the enemy. He serves my uncle. He kills people for a living.
But his thumb brushes across my cheekbone, wiping away a smudge of dirt, and my breath catches.
"Sir." One of his soldiers steps forward. "Should we detain her for questioning?"
Kade doesn't look away from me. "Not yet."
Not yet. That means later. That means he's planning to interrogate me.
"Please," I hear myself say. "I haven't done anything wrong. I just heal people. That's all I do."
"That's all you do," he repeats. "So you're not connected to the rebellion? You don't know anything about the weapons cache we found three streets over? You didn't help patch up wounded fighters last month?"
Oh no. Oh no, no, no.
I did help wounded fighters. Three of them. I thought they were just men who got in a tavern fight. I didn't ask questions because questions get you killed in the Dust Quarter.
But they were rebels. And somehow Kade knows.
"I heal everyone who comes to me," I say carefully. "I don't ask if they're rebels or loyal citizens or anything else. A wound is a wound."
"How noble." His voice drips with sarcasm. "And convenient."
"It's the truth."
"Is it?" He finally lets go of my chin, but he doesn't step back. "Here's what I think, Just Sera. I think you're hiding something big. I think you're more important than you pretend to be. And I think you're connected to the rebellion whether you admit it or not."
"You're wrong."
"Am I?" He reaches into his coat and pulls out a piece of paper. When he unfolds it, my blood turns to ice.
It's a sketch. A woman's face. Young, beautiful, with long dark hair and violet eyes.
It's me. Or rather, it's Princess Seraphina from five years ago, drawn from memory.
"The rebellion has been distributing these," Kade says, watching my reaction. "They claim the true princess is still alive. That she's hiding somewhere, waiting to reclaim her throne." He holds the picture next to my face. "Interesting resemblance, don't you think?"
I can't breathe. Can't think. The room spins.
"Lots of girls have dark hair," I manage to say. My voice shakes. "That could be anyone."
"Could be." He folds the paper and puts it away. "But I don't believe in coincidences. And you, Just Sera, are one coincidence too many."
A soldier runs in from outside, breathing hard. "General! We found something in the building next door. Hidden documents. Messages about moving supplies to the rebellion."
Kade's eyes never leave mine. "Whose building?"
"The one this girl lives in, sir."
No. Lyra must have hidden them there. She was trying to protect the network, and now—
"Search her room," Kade orders. "Search everything she owns. Bring it all to me."
"Wait!" I grab his arm without thinking. "Please, I don't know anything about documents. I swear I don't—"
The moment I touch him, something strange happens.
Power surges through me. Not my power—his. I feel it like electricity, like lightning in his veins. He's got magic. Strong magic. The kind that shouldn't exist in someone who's not royal blood.
And from the way his eyes widen, he felt something from me too.
We both jerk back at the same time.
"What was that?" His voice is sharp now, dangerous. "What did you just do to me?"
"Nothing! I didn't—"
"You have magic." It's not a question. "You touched me and I felt it. Raw power. The kind that takes years to develop." He grabs my wrist, holding it up between us. "Who taught you? Where did you learn it?"
I try to pull away but his grip is iron. "Let me go!"
"Not until you tell me the truth. Who are you really?"
"I told you! I'm just—"
"LIAR!" His shout makes everyone in the room flinch. "I've spent my whole life learning to spot lies, and you reek of them. So here's what's going to happen. You're coming with me. You'll work as my personal healer in the military compound. And you'll stay there, under my watch, until I figure out exactly what you're hiding."
"No." The word comes out before I can stop it. "No, I won't go with you."
"It's not a request."
"I have patients here who need me. I can't just leave—"
"Your patients will be treated by other healers." He signals to his soldiers. "Take her to the compound. Put her in the room next to the medical wing. Post guards. She doesn't leave, she doesn't see visitors, she doesn't breathe without my permission."
Two soldiers move toward me.
This is it. My invisible life is over. I'm being dragged into the one place I can never escape from—right under my uncle's nose, into the hands of his most dangerous weapon.
"Please," I try one more time. "You don't understand. If I leave here, people will die. There's a fever spreading and I'm the only one who knows how to—"
"Enough." Kade leans down until his face is inches from mine. "I don't care about your excuses. I don't care about your secrets. But I will discover the truth about you, Just Sera. I always do."
The soldiers reach for me.
And then the door crashes open again.
A man stumbles in, covered in blood. Real blood, fresh blood, pouring from a wound in his chest. He collapses at Kade's feet.
"General," the man gasps. "Attack... ambush... your main camp... the rebellion... they're killing everyone..."
Then he stops breathing.
Kade goes absolutely still. When he speaks, his voice could freeze fire.
"How many troops at the main camp?"
"Two hundred, sir," a soldier answers.
"Send reinforcements. Now." Kade looks down at the dead man, then at me. "You. If you're really just a healer, prove it. Come with me. Save my soldiers. Or I'll assume you're with the rebels who are killing them."
He's giving me a choice that's not a choice.
Save his soldiers—the men who serve my uncle—or be branded a traitor.
My hands shake as I grab my medical bag.
"I'll come," I whisper. "But you have to let me work without interference."
"Done." He's already moving toward the door. "Keep up or get left behind."
I follow him out into the streets, my heart pounding.
I don't know what's waiting at that camp.
But I do know one thing: General Kade Nightborne just became the most dangerous person in my life.
And I just agreed to walk straight into his war.